Natural Gas Company Fined $500.000 for Damaging Endangered Species Habitat

A subsidiary of Petrohawk Energy Corp.has been fined $350,000 and ordered to pay an additional $150,000 in restitution for damaging the habitat of an endangered species in Arkansas. The latter amount will be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for use in watershed restoration projects in the area, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The damage was caused in three forks of the Little Red River, home to the critically endangered speckled pocketbook mussel (Lampsilis streckeri). It is unknown exactly how many of the freshwater mussels were affected by the damage to their habitat.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the upper Little Red River in the Ozark Mountains is the only habitat of the rare bivalve.

Petrohawk subsidiary Hawk Field Services, LLC, pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Endangered Species Act on April 8. Sentencing took place on September 14.

Source: Scientific American 

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SWN Gives to Everyday Heroes

Southwestern Energy Company presented representatives from the volunteer fire departments, police departments and sheriff’s offices of Faulkner County with $11,000 in total grants recently as part of the company’s Everyday Heroes program.

The program supports volunteer fire departments, police departments, sheriff’s offices and other emergency response organizations throughout the Fayetteville Shale play. 

The following Faulkner County volunteer fire departments received grants as part of the Everyday Heroes program: Centerville, Enola, Greenbrier, Guy, Mount Vernon, Twin Groves and Wooster.

The following Faulkner County police departments and sheriff’s offices received grants: Guy and Greenbrier police departments and Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office.

Southwestern Energy has contributed more than $370,000 to the Everyday Heroes program since it was established in 2008. Among these donations in Faulkner County since 2008, $27,500 supported volunteer fire departments, $6,500 supported police departments, and $11,000 supported the sheriff’s office.

Source: The Cabin

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